Friday, November 18, 2005
rambling. . . (doesn't that make you want to read)
It’s strange how ones life can change so fundamentally over just a few weeks. I go from a job in Chicago that was an insignificant party of my life – just ran some statistical models, in by 10am and out by 6 – to one in New York that consumes me. This isn’t just a lot of work, there’s a shitload of work, and with the CEO, to whom I’ve become a workhorse.
The responsibilities are mammoth. As a consultant, I was never one that did any implementation, I just did analysis and how clients went about acting on it, I had no idea. Here I’m setting pay rates to get optimal productivity and minimal turnover, running pay equity analyses, telling operations execs how to pay out bonus dollars and to who, and composing questions for a pre-employment screen. This is all supported by my “analytical mind”, as they call it here, and a lot of programming and statistical work (which require concentration and time, two things I’m not able to get much of).
So yea, I went from wondering how I would fill the time of day to wondering if there was enough of it. And it is, I have to say, very exciting and fun -- the days go by quickly.
In the evenings I’ve filled them with either working late, or enjoying the night out w/Rob, going out to the Met from time to time. And, by the way, I just saw the Met’s new production of Romeo et Juliet last night. Shifting gears. . .
It would seem like that production was cursed. The opera opened on Monday and their Juliet canceled, Natalie Dessay (of course, the show went out without her). Last night Dessay made her debut and was wonderful but at the beginning of the fourth act, technical problems delayed the start: the house lights were literally going on and off while they figured things out, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Act four begins and the English subtitles began to flicker. I’m sure Volpe, the General Manager, had fiver years taken off his life last night.
Despite these things, the opera, which I’d never seen before, was taken in with great pleasure. I totally enjoyed the production and cast and the additional drama was just a bump in the road. Shifting gears. . .
And I decided not to come back to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I’m not sure where that came from either but the bottom line is that I’m tired and want to stay put for a little while. And with Christmans, the parents visiting in January, Eric visiting in December and the new job, I’m going to try to take advantage of the workaday weekends.
The responsibilities are mammoth. As a consultant, I was never one that did any implementation, I just did analysis and how clients went about acting on it, I had no idea. Here I’m setting pay rates to get optimal productivity and minimal turnover, running pay equity analyses, telling operations execs how to pay out bonus dollars and to who, and composing questions for a pre-employment screen. This is all supported by my “analytical mind”, as they call it here, and a lot of programming and statistical work (which require concentration and time, two things I’m not able to get much of).
So yea, I went from wondering how I would fill the time of day to wondering if there was enough of it. And it is, I have to say, very exciting and fun -- the days go by quickly.
In the evenings I’ve filled them with either working late, or enjoying the night out w/Rob, going out to the Met from time to time. And, by the way, I just saw the Met’s new production of Romeo et Juliet last night. Shifting gears. . .
It would seem like that production was cursed. The opera opened on Monday and their Juliet canceled, Natalie Dessay (of course, the show went out without her). Last night Dessay made her debut and was wonderful but at the beginning of the fourth act, technical problems delayed the start: the house lights were literally going on and off while they figured things out, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Act four begins and the English subtitles began to flicker. I’m sure Volpe, the General Manager, had fiver years taken off his life last night.
Despite these things, the opera, which I’d never seen before, was taken in with great pleasure. I totally enjoyed the production and cast and the additional drama was just a bump in the road. Shifting gears. . .
And I decided not to come back to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I’m not sure where that came from either but the bottom line is that I’m tired and want to stay put for a little while. And with Christmans, the parents visiting in January, Eric visiting in December and the new job, I’m going to try to take advantage of the workaday weekends.
# posted by otas : 3:53 PM
